• CEB to submit further revisions & clarifications to PUCSL

Electricity charges are likely to be reduced by more than the average rate of 3.34% which was originally proposed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) when it sought a tariff revision from the regulator, The Daily Morning learns.

On 12 January, CEB Acting General Manager engineer Dr. Narendra De Silva had written to the power regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), seeking the latter’s approval to reduce electricity tariffs by an average of 3.34% with effect from 1 February.

When contacted by The Daily Morning to inquire about the progress of the proposed tariff reduction, a senior official privy to the matter at the CEB said that the utility provider had already worked to submit some of the revisions and clarifications regarding the tariff revision proposal as required by the PUCSL.

“The PUCSL studied the proposal submitted by the CEB and called for certain revisions and clarifications. We have submitted some of them, and the rest will be submitted in the coming days. As per the current situation, the electricity tariffs will be reduced by more than the initially proposed rate,” the CEB official told The Daily Morning on terms of anonymity.

While the CEB had proposed to reduce electricity tariffs by an average of 3.34%, the Electricity Consumers’ Association (ECA) recently charged that while the CEB had received profits amounting to Rs. 65 billion last year, the latter had hidden the relevant data in the proposal which had been referred to the PUCSL. For instance, they claimed that the CEB’s transmission and distribution cost in 2023 was Rs. 70 billion, but that the latest proposal mentioned that the said cost would be Rs. 145 billion for this year (2024). The ECA charged that the CEB had not, however, mentioned the actual data related to the profit that they earned last year. 

ECA General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika further opined recently that a tariff revision by 3.34% would not bring about any significant relief to electricity users. According to the proposal, he said that the tariff of those using 31-60 electricity units would go down by only Rs. 1, 31-60 units by Rs. 2.50, 61-90 units by Rs. 3, and 91-120 and 120-180 units by Rs. 2, respectively, but that there was a possibility of reducing electricity tariffs by about 30% due to the CEB’s high profit status and increased hydropower generation.